America’s population is rapidly aging, and so is its health care system. The former threatens to break the latter. As more people live longer, they will seek more treatment from a system that already faces critical shortages of doctors and other medical professionals. The country, despite some health gains, is facing epidemics of obesity and diabetes. The trustees of Medicare estimate the program will run out of money by 2030. What will the effect of millions of new seniors be on our health systems? Is it possible to build our health care infrastructure to accommodate them without adding to the cost and bureaucracy of the system? How do end-of-life issues and individual choice factor into the equation and what is the role of health care policy in providing solutions? ASU economist Marjorie Baldwin, Keith Dines, CEO of Arizona Integrated Physicians, Lawrence Atkins, executive director of Long-Term Quality Alliance, and John Rother, CEO of the National Coalition on Health Care, visit Zócalo to explore whether our health care system will bend—or break—in response to the pressures of an older America.

*Photo courtesy of val lawless.